Woman's hidden tumour weighed as much as a GREAT DANE

EXTREME: The 60 kilo tumour weighs as much as a great dane [GETTY/CEN]

Mercedes Talamante, 51, said she had been completely unaware that her weight gain was from a 60 kilo tumour that had developed around her ovaries and thought it was just a consequence of getting older.

She said she had finally decided to see a doctor after her daughter Maria told her she was convinced she was sick.

Moises Aaron Nunez, the director of the General Hospital of Zone 26 in Cabo San Lucas, a city in Mexico, said it had been a tough case like no other he had seen.

FREE: Ms Talamante said she had been given a new lease of life [CEN]

“We could not find any example of an ovarian tumour this big”

Moises Aaron Nunez

He said: "We could not find any example of an ovarian tumour this big. There was no precedent anywhere in the world."

When medics identified the immense tumour it took over four hours – and a team of surgeons – to successfully remove it.

Doctor Inzulza, who is the chief surgeon at hospital, said the operation had been carried out last month but it was kept secret until it was clear the woman had successfully recovered and was ready to go home.

At a joint press conference together with the doctor Ms Talamante thanked him for giving her a new life and said: "I feel like a new woman. In fact after the surgery when I took my first steps, I felt like I was walking on air.

She added that the first thing she planned to do when she got home was to go out with her daughter whose good advice had saved her life.